Traitor Born by Amy Bartol

This whole novel is just page after page of tension.  I really didn't even care that this is just a repurposed Kricket series.  The world and characters are different enough to make this an entirely different read.  The author found a plot formula that works for her writing style and created another success.

While this is a book about political intrigue and love at its heart, there is something about the world and characters that make me want to read more.  Sure, the male characters are all identical in appearance and personality--and Roselle seems to fall in love with them at the drop of a hat despite having fallen in love with someone else 10 pages ago.  

Sure, the plot has been done and done again in YA novels presently--it's a badass young woman who is learning how to be herself while contending with being a badass.  The action scenes are fast-paced and thrilling while being completely unrealistic.  So many cliches!

But, that just doesn't seem to matter as I kept turning the page to find out what came next.  There is a magic to Amy Bartol that makes me read her books despite having obvious character flaws and stereotypical plots.  Her twists and turns in the action mean that 5-6 hours later I've read the entire book and emerge in the real world dazed that the day is gone.  Magic I tell you.

The path has been set for Roselle to escape her conniving mother in the Fate of Virtues.  She has become the most protected Secondborn in existence.  What will she be expected to do now?  And who will she be expected to crown the victor?  So many people and factions are trying to make Roselle their icon and their hero they have forgotten she is person, even if Secondborn and raised to fulfill her duty without question.

I'm ready to be reading the conclusion in all its glorious trope ridden plot that I won't be able to put down.  I want to be back in the worlds that Amy Bartol builds.  They are full ecosystems I just want to visit time and again.  That's what reading for entertainment is all about.